Dec. 23, 2015

Fort Worth, Texas, air conditioning ductwork manufacturer cited by OSHA
for repeatedly failing to protect workers from amputation hazards

Employer name: M & M Manufacturing in Fort Worth, Texas

Citations issued: Dec. 18, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited M & M Manufacturing on Mark IV Parkway for repeatedly failing to protect workers from amputation hazards by failing to guard the point of operation on a metal press that shapes sheet metal into a circular collar. The company was previously cited for a lack of machine guarding at three different facilities between 2012 and 2015.

OSHA opened the inspection on Sept. 30 after receiving a complaint alleging an amputation injury. Reporting an amputation is part of the new record keeping requirements, and as of Jan. 1, 2015, a company is required to report the hospitalization of one or more employees, amputation, or loss of an eye, within 24 hours to OSHA.

Proposed Penalties: $70,000

Quote: "M & M Manufacturing has repeatedly been cited for failing to guard machinery while promising time and again to take corrective action - yet workers continue to be exposed to unnecessary hazards," said Josh Bernstein, OSHA's acting area director in Fort Worth, Texas. "It is the employer's responsibility to find and fix these hazards and OSHA will continue to hold this employer accountable."

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/M_and_M_Manufacturing_1095292.pdf

Information: M & M Manufacturing, headquartered in Fort Worth, employs about 700 workers at facilities in Texas and Oklahoma. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Fort Worth Area Office at 817-581-7303. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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Media Contacts:

Diana Petterson, 972-850-4710, petterson.diana@dol.gov
Juan Rodriguez, 972-850-4709, rodriguez.juan@dol.gov

Release Number: 15-2406-DAL

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